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To increase public awareness about the causes of specific train accidents and to reduce the need for individuals to submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is for the first time making its investigation reports of major train accidents and other incidents available online, FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman stated.
“There’s no reason that anyone who’s interested shouldn’t be able to find out the probable cause of a train accident,” said Boardman, explaining that formal FRA accident investigation reports generally focus on high-consequence train-to-train collisions, derailments, certain highway-rail grade crossing collisions, and all railroad employee fatalities.
Boardman said that the Factual Investigation Reports now posted on the FRA web site contain detailed narratives describing the circumstances of the accident or incident and provide an analysis of the facts and FRA’s conclusion as to why the event occurred. Making this information more accessible will benefit railroads, railroad employees, state and local officials, communities, shippers, insurers and others directly or indirectly impacted by these events, he added.
FRA accident investigation reports for all of 2005 and 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 are online now. The reports for the remainder of 2007 will be posted in the coming months, and those for 2008 as well as all future reports will be made available online as they are completed and finalized, Boardman said. A major train accident or incident investigation typically takes six to nine months to complete, and no portions of reports are made public until an investigation is finalized. An up-to-date listing of all active, open and ongoing investigations will also be posted online.
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